The election dispute in the Constitutional Court has three characteristics this time.
- The legal team of the applicants is stronger than that of the responders. Their speeches are better constructed from a logical standpoint.
- Before, all the Constitutional Court judges were in favor of the authorities. Now, at least two of them obviously support the applicants.
- The culprits of the accusers are the “juicy” expressions of the acting Prime Minister, which do not suit not only the head of state, but also any educated person. But I do not imagine to what extent this rhetoric can be a basis for invalidating the election results. It seems to me that swearing and threats characterize the level of culture of the acting Prime Minister, the style of leadership, maybe the political atmosphere and the regime created in Armenia, but not the legitimacy of the elections.
But this, of course, does not mean that the elections were held in perfect democracy. In order to reproduce himself, Pashinyan used the “tools” created by the “former” to reproduce themselves: administrative resources, army voting, and “party members.” In fairness, these “tools” did not play a decisive role in this election, and some of the opposition forces tried to use their “traditional” means- election bribes- on a limited scale. Of course, it is amusing to watch members of the former regime fight in the Constitutional Court against the system they have created.
But, on the other hand, coming to the conclusion based on the Constitutional Court discussions that the Constitution must be changed immediately is also a display of urgency, I believe. In all kinds of constitutions, electoral systems and systems of government, the government has falsified the election results; the last two times perhaps less than before. And the Constitutional Court has always overturned the decision of the CEC. It will “stab” this time too. Therefore, one should use the advice given by Putin at the time: “We should change our brains, not the Constitution.” As long as holding or taking power is a matter of life and death for political forces, this situation will continue.
Aram Abrahamyan
